


The Perfect Present

by Sue P (spenkive)



Series: The Butterfly Effect [4]
Category: New Mutants, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inferno (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:54:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10089815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spenkive/pseuds/Sue%20P
Summary: Vance, Kitty, and Doug band together to rescue Illyana from Limbo - but at what cost?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Final chapter of The Butterfly Effect. Special thanks to Melodyrider for feedback, and to MotherGiselle for encouragement and for the loan of her Vance muse!

**Prologue**

She heard a moan, and only belatedly realized that it was she who’d made the sound.

She hurt. She couldn’t remember why, or how, but that much she knew. Everything hurt. Worse than anything she could remember - worse than any Danger Room training aftermath, worse than training with Cat, even worse than being punished by S’ym. It hurt, deep in her bone, deep in her soul. But that was nothing, nothing, compared to the void within her.

Gone. All the power she’d earned, all the power she’d been given - all of it gone. Fuzzily, she remembered that she’d done this to herself, but as she lay on what she could only assume was the ground (as if she were a doll tossed away, unwanted) she couldn’t remember why. There’d been a reason…

And then it all came back to her in a flood. The New Mutants, trapped in Limbo. N’astirh, and his bargain, one she should have never made, because who knew better than her that you could never trust the word of demons? The portal that wouldn’t close, demons falling like raindrops upon a defenseless Earth. And the last ditch effort she’d made to save everyone, to keep Earth from becoming indistinguishable from the dimension in which she’d grown up .

She didn’t even know if it had worked, she realized as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. For all she knew, it had somehow backfired, just like everything else ever had when she’d tried to do the right thing.

She hoped Vance had gotten out okay, and that he’d managed to hang on to her amulet. It was really the only hope she had of ever getting out of Limbo alive.

 

**The day after, at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters**

  
“They bought it?”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“Didn’t anyone think it was weird that, two days after a demonic invasion, you suddenly had an urge to go break the news about the TO virus to your parents? And wanted me along for moral support?”

Doug sighed. “Vance, of course they’re not believing that. They probably assume I’m going to use an image inducer the whole time we’re there, just like I usually do. They just figure I’m trying to get you away from Illyana - the little one - before you crack, and that I’m using a visit to my parents as an excuse to get you to go along with it.”

Vance glanced over from where he’d been packing a bag with items unlikely to be needed on a trip to Salem Center and grimaced. “Good to know they have such a high opinion of my mental stability.”

“Well, they did just find out you’d been dating Yana.”

Something in Vance’s expression must have suggested he was unimpressed, because Doug held his hands up in protest. “Hey, c’mon, I’m kidding. Seriously, you just spent six months in Limbo and your girlfriend was apparently just de-aged to first grade. It’d be pretty normal for you to be a wreck.”

“Yeah, I know.” Vance shrugged apologetically and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Sorry, man, I’m just on edge. And technically, she’s not my girlfriend.”

Gold on gold eyes blinked as Doug stared at him, disbelieving. “Vance, you two disappeared for two months-”

“Six.”

“From my perspective it was two, but fine. Six months. Alone together, in Limbo.”

“Most of it spent in a frozen wasteland, with demons everywhere. We were sleeping alternate watches, and Yana was losing more and more of her humanity every day.” Vance shrugged again and turned his hands, gesturing “what can you do?” “She said she wasn’t starting her first relationship like that, and that we’d talk about it once we were back home. I couldn’t exactly argue that.”

Doug grimaced and walked over to pick up a pile of papers from the desk. “And now…?”

“Now? I’ll worry about it once we’re back in the same dimension. Seriously, can we just focus on that? You can give me shit about my dating habits once we get her back.”

He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, and nodded. “Fine, yeah. Anyway, for whatever reason, you’re kind of a mess. Everyone knows. Which is why they’re going to pretend to believe my half-assed story.” Doug took a totally unnecessary breath and exhaled. “Look, we agreed to not get everyone involved. This is the easiest way to do it.”

“I know. I just feel guilty about lying to everyone.” There wasn’t any way around it, though, and Doug was right. It would be the easiest way to explain their absence, and it wasn’t as if the lie was really hurting anyone. Still, he wasn’t altogether comfortable with it, and shrugged as he changed the subject. “Did Kitty get back to you about where and when?”

“About two o’clock, and she says she’ll meet us outside Four Freedoms Plaza.” Doug looked at him curiously. “Are you sure they’ll go along with this?”

Vance smiled a little. “Pretty sure. We’ve just gotta catch the right person.” And that person? Definitely wasn’t Ben. Ben would probably just tell him to go home and let the Fantastic Four handle it, which as far as he was concerned wasn’t an option at this point. Not without exposing Illyana’s part in recent events, limited though it had been, and chance people getting the wrong idea. “It’s our best bet, unless you suddenly know how to fly the Blackbird?”

“Yeah, not so much.” Doug made a face. “I can fly it just fine in the simulator, once it’s in the air. It’s taking off and landing that are the problem. There’s no way I’m willing to try it with the real thing..”

  
“Hey, still better than me. I got in what, two hours of sim time, seven months ago? Doesn’t exactly qualify me for a flight license.” Vance finished putting the last of his things in his backpack. “It’s too bad Kitty couldn’t just come here.”

“She didn’t want to, and she had a point. The X-Men’s idiotic scheme aside, if anyone saw her we’d spend hours waiting while they gave her the third degree, and we don’t want to draw that kind of attention..” Doug’s expression suggested he was still less than happy about Kitty having let them all think she was dead. Vance couldn’t exactly blame him, since he felt the same way and didn’t know her nearly as well. “At least she had a few ideas as to where we could start looking for thin walls between worlds, even if she’s not entirely sold on the idea she can phase between them. Are you ready to go?”

Vance slung the backpack over his shoulder and grabbed his helmet from his desk. “Whenever you are. Got a helmet?”

“It’s not like I’ve got a skull that’s going to crack.” Doug offered a wry smile as he stuffed the papers he’d picked up into his own bag and shouldered it. “I programmed one into the image inducer, though. We’re all good.”

“Any progress on the virus?” Vance asked as they made their way out of their room and down the stairs. “I’m sorry, man - I can’t believe I haven’t even asked.”

“Yeah well, things have been kind of crazy.” Doug shrugged. “Anyway, there’s no real news. I’ve got it pretty much under control. I mean, I don’t have the control Warlock did - I’m not about to try turning into a jet or a helicopter or anything - but I can hold what looks like a human form for, well, about ten minutes.” He offered a crooked grin. “It’s a work in progress. Gotta admit, I’m kind of liking the built in computer interface. It beats my typing speed hands down. And I think I finally broke my caffeine addiction.”

“Silver linings?”

“Gotta find them.”

Doug’s tone was flippant, but Vance suspected the emotion behind it was anything but. Still, his roommate seemed a lot more at ease with himself than he had when he’d last seen him either two or six months earlier, depending on whose chronology you were tracking. It maybe wasn’t much, but it was something.

They continued on in companionable silence, and had nearly reached the garage when he was nearly bowled over by a small running figure who barrelled into his legs from behind. Startled, Vance managed to catch his balance, then turned to see a familiar pair of blue eyes looking up at him from a pixie-like face. She smiled shyly and said something in Russian, and Vance tore his eyes away to look over at Doug for assistance.

“She wants to know if you’re Vance.” Doug translated. He shrugged, clearly uncertain how the little girl knew to ask, or why she wanted to know.

Wondering just what Rahne had been telling the little girl and how she’d gotten her to understand it, Vance turned back to her and forced an awkward smile. “Da.”

Much to his surprise, her face brought into a grin that was too familiar for comfort, and she rambled off a string of syllables he couldn’t follow.

“She says good, she was trying to find you, but she had to sneak away from the girl with the red hair - I think she means Rahne - who said she should leave you alone. She has a message for you.” Doug looked at her curiously and rattled off a question.

The little girl let out a hmmph that needed no translation but then replied, apparently impatient with the need for a middle man.

“Okay, a message and a secret.” Doug offered Vance an apologetic look. “Apparently she understands more English than she can speak.”

Bewildered and a little apprehensive, Vance nonetheless crouched down so he could meet the girl’s eyes and smiled. “A message, then? And a secret?”

She nodded enthusiastically and began speaking in Russian once more.

“She says the scary girl with the horns said it was very important that she tell you to keep it safe. It’s important. And that she trusts you, and that she figured you’d need this.”

Without further ado, the girl who wasn’t and yet was Illyana threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Taken aback, Vance hugged her back gently, but just as he was about to try and disentangle her, she leaned in and whispered one word in heavily accented English.

“Bermuda.”

“Illyana, ye wee monster, what are you doing? I told you to let him in peace - I’m so sorry, Vance,” Rahne said as she hurried up and tried to pull the girl away, causing her to stubbornly cling tighter. “She slipped away, and I thought she’d gone inside so I tried there first.”

“It’s okay.” Vance met the little girl’s eyes, nodded, and smiled, and was rewarded with yet another heart-wrenching smile before she let go. “She just wanted to say hi.”

“Well, she’s done that, then. Are ye sure you’re alright?” She gave Vance a calculating look, apparently trying to determine whether or not he was about to burst into tears.

“I’m okay. Really.” He got to his feet and offered her a crooked smile before looking back at the little girl, who was now peeking out from behind Rahne’s legs and making faces at him. “Dasvidaniya, Illyana Nikolievna,” he said honestly, exhausting his knowledge of Russian. “Bal'shoye spaseeba.”

“Dasvidaniya!” Face-making game abandoned, she smiled and waved as she grabbed hold of Rahne’s hand and tugged.

“Alright, I’m coming already. Dougie, I hope it all goes well with your parents!” The last was called back over her shoulder as she let the younger girl tug her off towards the building.

Doug chuckled. “Even at six, she’s still a brat. What’d she say to you?”

Vance stared after the pink overall-ed girl a moment longer, watching her tug Rahne along to the mansion’s front steps, then turned back to Doug and smiled crookedly. “Unless I’m wrong? She just told me where to start looking. Do we have a map of the Bermuda Triangle?”

His roommate blinked, then grinned. “No, but we can probably pick one up on the way. C’mon.”

With a somewhat lighter heart, Vance followed along towards the garage.

 

**Sometime later, at Four Freedom’s Plaza**

Vance took off his helmet and squinted at the building, raising his hand to shade his eyes against the glare of the sun. Not only were there the usual crowd of bustling New Yorkers going about their business, but mobs of tourists thronged around the building, posing for pictures. “I don’t suppose Kitty said exactly where she’d meet us. Outside’ is a pretty big area.”

Doug shrugged as he slid off the bike. “It’s Kitty. She’ll find us.” He fiddled with with his watch, and his helmet disappeared, revealing a blonde haired teenage boy who favored Vance with an awkward smile. “I figured this would draw less attention.”

“Hey, it’s a good look for you. The original, huh?” Vance climbed off the bike and pocketed the keys. He’d seen pictures, but he couldn’t remember Doug ever having used the inducer before to actually look like himself.

“Hey, why come up with something else when I blend into the background just fine all on my own?”

“I dunno. Yana always said you were cute. I’m guessing she’s not the only one who ever thought so.” He took off his helmet and locked it in the bike’s storage space, then resumed looking around, trying to catch sight of Kitty.

Doug shrugged, then turned towards him a little, forehead furrowing. “She actually said that? How would that even have come up?”

Vance smiled a little. “We spent six months in Limbo. We did a lot of talking.” He glanced over at Doug and grinned. “I heard all the stories.”

“Oh come on, she didn’t…” Doug’s face turned red, a testimony to his programming skills. “We were drunk?” he offered awkwardly.

“Spin the bottle,” Vance acknowledged. He gave Doug an understanding look. “It’s cool, I’m just joking around.”

“You seem...pretty okay with all this,” Doug ventured. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Like, really okay with it. I mean…”

“I know what you mean.” Vance shrugged just a little awkwardly. “What can I say? I’m not much for freaking.” Vance turned and leaned against the bike. “I’ve got some experience with alternate reality doubles. My own is with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Second...Doug, for me? Yana didn’t just turn into a demon. It’d been happening for months, little by little; you guys just weren’t around to see it. The shock value kind of wore off.”

“You’re okay with it?”

Vance shrugged. “It’s still her. I mean, would I rather she lose the horns and hooves? Yeah. But…honestly?” He took a breath and exhaled slowly. “Right now, I just want to find her.”

“Well, that’s the idea.” Doug looked around, then back at him, grinning a little. “You seriously have an alternate reality double with the Guardians of the Galaxy? That’s hardcore, man.”

“Tell me about it. I met him when-”

“Umm...not to interrupt this touching story, but-”

“Kitty!” Doug’s grin widened and he held out his arms, just in time to be tackle-hugged by a brunette whose awkward expression faded in favor of relief. Vance stood by with his hands in his pockets, listening to them fire half sentences back and forth.

“I thought you were-”

“I know, and I’m really sorry about that. But-”

“How could you?”

“It wasn’t my idea! But oh my god, look at you, you got everything under control?”

“Image inducer.”

“Looks just like the real thing.”

“More or less, it could use some fine tuning. Maybe once we’ve -”

“Definitely. I had some ideas about the virus, too, and -”

“I’ve got a few I want to run past you, too. But -”

They both laughed, and Vance watched as Doug pulled her in closer for a genuine hug. “Missed you, Pryde.”

“Back at you Ramsey.” Kitty pulled back and turned towards him, a guilty look on her face. “Hey Vance. Sorry. Just…”

“Hey, it’s all good.” He smiled a little and waved away her apology. “How’ve you been, Kitty?”

“The last forty eight hours? Not so good.” She took a breath, exhaled slowly, and shook her head. “Are you guys sure about this? I mean, I’m not sure if I can even do it, but even if I can...how do you know she’s still alive?”

“She sent me a message.”

“What?” Kitty glanced over at Doug with a frown. “You didn’t mention that.”

Doug threw his arms out in a “what can you do?” gesture. “It hadn’t happened yet. Or it had, but he hadn’t gotten it?”

Apparently that was sufficient explanation - hell, given the X-Men’s experience with alternate realities and time travel, it probably was - because Kitty nodded and turned back to him. “What message?”

“Take care of it, it’s important. And that she trusts me.”

“Take care of what?”

Vance shook his head. “Not out here. But anyway, her younger self knew my name; there’s no reason to think it’s not legit.”

Kitty nodded thoughtfully, then offered a smile. “Doug said you guys got together. Wish I’d been there to see that.”

“Yeah. I wish you had, too.”

Kitty’s smile faded a little and she looked awkward. “It was for the good of the team.”

“I get that. I’m not sure Illyana’s going to, though.” It was hard for him to grasp why the X-Men had felt the need to keep the truth from their families and friends, but he could understand, a little, what Ororo had been trying to do, and why. Yana… He shrugged awkwardly, feeling bad that he’d brought it up. “It hit her really hard.”

“I know. I knew it would.” Kitty pushed her hand back through her hair, then sighed and met Vance’s eyes. “All the more reason to find her, right? The longer we wait, the more she’s going to chew me out when we do.”

“I dunno. I think she’s going to be so relieved to see you alive she might hold off on most of the yelling. For a while, at least.” Vance smiled a little, then turned to Doug. “Ready to meet the Fantastic Four?”

Doug grinned. “Hey, I’ve been ready since you mentioned it. Not my fault we had to wait for someone to get here.”

“Hey! I had to wait until everyone went to bed, and when you’re figuring in Logan and Kurt and a twelve pack…”

Still talking, they headed towards the front doors of the Plaza, worming their way between the groups of tourists. Finally, they reached the building and went inside, welcome by a blast of cool air. Vance waved the other two to follow, and headed towards an elderly man seated at a desk near an elevator.

“Hi Mr. O’Hoolihan. How are you?” Vance offered a smile, and was met with a responding wider one from the doorman in question, who got his feet.

“Well, if it’s not Vance Astrovik! It’s been an age since I’ve seen ye, lad! Are ye here to see Ben, then? I’m afraid he’s out and about, but I can give the Richards a jingle if ye care to be waiting for him. I’m sure he wouldn’t want to be missing you.”

“Actually, we stopped by to see Johnny. Do you know if he’s around?”

“Aye, he is, for didn’t I just see him go up not half an hour ago, with Alicia on his arm? Give me half a moment, lad.” He held up a hand and turned his attention back to the phone, then nodded as he put it back down on the receiver. “You go right up then, all of you, and Roberta will see you squared away.” He turned towards Kitty and smiled. “Ms. Pryde, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, it’s relieved I am that rumors of your death seem to have been exaggerated. Franklin will be thrilled to hear it.”

“I...thank you,” Kitty stammered. “It’s good to see you again.”

Vance waved his goodbye as Mr. O’Hoolihan touched his cap and gestured them towards the elevators, then glanced over at Kitty. “Maybe I should’ve let you do the talking? I didn’t realize you’d been here before, sorry.”

“Oh no, it’s fine.” Kitty walked over to the elevator and pressed the button, then grinned a little and shrugged. “I babysat Franklin a few times. But it was a while ago; I’m surprised Mr. O’Hoolihan even remembers me.”

“Don’t let the accent fool you - I’m pretty sure he remembers everything.” He stepped into the elevator and smiled. “He met me once, when I first manifested, for like, ten seconds, and recognized me when Ben brought me back with him months later. Immediately. First name and last, and told me how good it was to see me again.”

“Huh.” Kitty gave the elevator door a speculative look as it closed. “First line of security.”

“Nah. I’m pretty sure it’s more like family.” The elevator climbed quickly, and after what seemed like only moments, the door reopened to reveal the Fantastic Four’s waiting room. “Come on, we can go sign in with-”

“Whoa, he wasn’t kidding! Astrovik, dude! How’s it been?” Johnny stepped up, hand extended for a fist bump. “I heard you hooked up with the X-types a while back, but then poof! Nothing. Ben wanted to raise hell over it, but Sue talked him out of it.”

Vance smiled and shook his head as he obligingly bumped his fist against Johnny’s. “Interdimensional thing. Tell you later. We’ve got a favor to ask.”

“Heeeey, not until I get intros. Johnny turned to look at the other two, and blinked. And blinked again. “You’re not dead,” he pointed out to Kitty. “Which is totally good, but how are you not dead? The TV people definitely insisted there was death, and Reed did science things and said there was death, and I was seriously bummed out.” He glanced back to Vance. “She’s not dead, right? Is this one of those interdimensional things?”

“Something like that.” Vance smiled crookedly. “You’ve met Kitty, and this is my friend Doug.” He held up a hand as Johnny opened his mouth. “Johnny, please, this is really important.”

“Yeah, right.” Johnny eyed Kitty again curiously, then sighed and turned back to Vance. “You owe me the whole story, later. And before you tell Ben or Reed. Deal?” Without waiting for Vance to reply, he rolled his hand impatiently. “Anyway, you said, favor?”

“We need to borrow the Fantasticar.” Vance offered a wry smile. “You know me, I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t really important.”

“You are not taking the Fantasticar to another dimension,” Johnny insisted. “Reed would never let me hear the end of that.”

“No, just to Bermuda.” Doug volunteered. “Or near there, anyway, where there may be a gateway to another dimension.” He grinned. “We need go rescue Vance’s girlfriend, but we’ll park the car first.”

Johnny’s skeptical look immediately transformed into a broad grin. “Girlfriend? Alright man, way to go! Anyone I know?” Vance his mouth to protest, but didn’t get a chance before Johnny steamrollered on. “You should’ve just said that to begin with. Girlfriend rescue for the win!” Johnny fumbled in his pocket and pulled out what looked like a Fantastic Four keychain, but with no key attached. “This’ll start it.” He started to hand it to Vance, then pulled his hand back and eyed the younger boy critically. “This ‘interdimensional thing’ doesn’t have anything to do with this week’s demon invasion, right? I nearly had my head taken off by a mailbox. I’m voting no on interdimensional things that result in me getting my head chomped. I need my head.”

While Vance once again floundered for something he could say that would be both reassuring and honest, Kitty chimed in. “Pretty sure I can promise that if we get Illyana back, there won’t be any more demon invasions.”

“Hey, it’s a win/win then.” Johnny grinned, handed over the keychain and waved them to follow “Come on. Let’s get you guys gone before Ben comes back from the deli, or you’ll be here forever with him complaining you shouldn’t go.”

“Thanks Johnny. We’ll take good care of it.” Vance smiled and fell into step beside the Fantastic Four member, as Kitty quietly began pointing out various features of Four Freedom’s Plaza to Doug.

“Dude, if I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be handing Reed’s baby over to you.” The older man grinned and nudged Vance with his elbow, then sobered just a little. “You guys got this, right? Or do you need help? I’m down for damsel rescuing if you need help.”

Vance hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. Having Johnny along would definitely give them more firepower, but explaining Limbo to the Human Torch wasn’t something he even felt comfortable attempting. “I think we’ve got it covered. But thanks. For offering, and for the car, and-”

“Whoa, it’s all cool, man. Not like I don’t know you - no way you’d ask if it wasn’t important. Just tell me something?” Johnny’s voice lowered and he glanced back behind them briefly. “The rest of the X-Men. Dead or alive? Because Sue’s gonna be pissed if I don’t ask.”

“Ummm...can I plead the fifth on that?” Vance rubbed at the back of his neck. “I can honestly say I haven’t seen any of the others, and neither have any of the New Mutants.”

Johnny shot him a look, then nodded. “Got it.” He grinned as he palmed a panel, and the door slid open to reveal the hangar. “So, here you guys go,” he said, raising his voice. “The lift’ll take it up to the roof, and you’re out of here.”

“Thanks,” Doug said, stepping up with a sort of dazed grin on his face that Vance guessed had probably been there since Kitty’d started giving her tour. “We really do appreciate this.”

“I’m driving!” Kitty climbed into the front seat and waved at Johnny.

Vance tossed her the keychain, figuring as the only qualified pilot, she had the right, then turned back to Johnny. “We’ll get it back in one piece.”

“Not a scratch on it!” Johnny waved as Vance crossed over to climb into the far sidecar, leaving the other to Doug.

“You’ve got the maps?” Kitty asked as the lift took them up through the ceiling to the roof..

Doug held up the sheaf of papers he’d printed out, as well as a GPS unit. “Programmed the GPS for Bermuda. We’re going to have to fudge it from there.”

Vance watched as Kitty set her jaw and nodded. “I’ve been there before. We’ll find it.”

He double checked his seat belt, then settled back, closing his eyes. He hoped she was right. And that if she was, they weren’t already too late. With Limbo involved, there was no way to know for sure.

 

**At approximately the same time, in Limbo**

It was possible, Illyana decided blurrily as she knelt on the ground, bound wrists to ankles with fetters that not only allowed her to assume no other position but which would have cancelled out her mystical abilities even if she hadn’t already drained them away, that she hadn’t thought this through well enough. Still, she wasn’t sure what else she could have done. It wasn’t as if she’d had any idea he’d be back, let alone that he’d find her before she could summon up the strength to hide.

In retrospect, she should have known he’d return, eventually. She hadn’t killed him. Hadn’t banished him from Limbo. Sooner or later, he’d been bound to show up again. Still, she’d pushed him from her mind, focused on S’ym and N’astirh and the rebellion that had threatened her own control of Limbo. On Vance…

Damn it, she wished she knew whether or not she’d at least managed to get him out safely. There was no way to tell, though - no way to know whether or not what she’d done had been successful. No way to know whether or not the mystical energy she’d fed into the portal had closed it, or if she’d managed to rescue the other her, or if her message had been delivered. By now, the Earth might have been remade in Limbo’s image. It might have all been for nothing.

No. If she started believing that, she was going to end up just as insane as her teammates had always believed her to be. That part of the plan had been sound. She’d drained herself dry, pouring all of the power she’d earned and been given into her sword, trusting that it would be enough to close the portal. It had to have been enough. She’d given the Beatrix amulet to Vance, knowing that if need be, he could find someone who’d be able to use it to find her, even if she couldn’t manage to teleport herself home. Knowing he’d try.

She just hadn’t counted on someone else finding her first.

“So, my dear, what shall I do with you?” A hand jerked her chin upwards, forcing her to look up at the face that had haunted her nightmares. Belasco smiled - a cold, calculating smile, utterly devoid of humanity. She’d loved that face, once, even as she hated it.

Despite everything, it was disconcerting to realize that she felt much the same, now.

She opened her mouth to reply, but he released her chin and backhanded her before she could speak, knocking her sideways and nearly pulling her shoulders from their sockets as she fell.

“Did you really think that anything could happen in Limbo without my knowledge? That I wouldn’t pull you back again, once I had need of you?” Belasco laughed. “Oh no, little one. I saw. Everything. You thought yourself Mistress of Limbo, didn’t you? Thought you could come and go and retain control, thought you could destroy everything I’d put in place. Thought you’d dispelled me. Apparently, you didn’t learn your lessons as well as I’d thought.”

“I learned well enough,” she mumbled, tasting blood where her teeth had bitten into her cheek. “Don’t play games, Belasco? Just kill me and get it over with.”

Another laugh, and she peered up to see him shaking his head. “Oh no. No, that would be a waste, wouldn’t it? Why should I start all over again, when my dear apprentice has returned to me of her own free will? No, what I want is the Beatrix amulet, so we can pick up where we left off.”

“I don’t have it.” Her tongue pried at her teeth - one loose, all still in place, but something felt strange. It took her a moment to realize it was that none of them were pointed.

Her own form, then. After months spent trying to resign herself to the knowledge that it was lost forever, the realization struck home with a thrill of surprise and elation, even now when it was too late to matter. Still, at least she’d die as herself. It was more than she’d hoped for.

“No, but you know where it is.”

A sharp pain as he grabbed at her hair and used it to pull her head upward and she gasped. The smile was gone, and Belasco’s eyes probed hers.

“Where is it?”

“Lost.” She whimpered despite herself, even as her mind spun for a plausible lie. “She took it, in Asgard. Amora…”

“The Enchantress?” Belasco seemed to muse on that for a moment, considering, then shook his head, eyes crackling with mystic energy. “No. It was here, not long ago. I can feel the echo of its presence. What did you do with it?”

“I told you-” She cut off and screamed as the shackles binding her blazed with heat, and she smelled the over-sweet smell of her own charred flesh.

“You’re trying my patience, apprentice. Where is it?”

“I don’t know!” she choked out, her mind flailing for something, anything he’d believe that wasn’t the truth. “Make it stop!”

“Then tell me. Where is the amulet?”

“With the girl! I sent it with the girl!”

“With the child?” He let go of her hair suddenly, and she fell back to the ground, smacking her shoulder into the stone floor. “Why?”

“Not the child,” Illyana whispered, whimpering as much because she knew Belasco would enjoy it as because of the pain, though the latter was more than enough reason, all on its own. “The werewolf girl. Dr. Strange. Rahne - I told Rahne to take it…” The heat cut off abruptly, so abruptly that she nearly lost consciousness.

Belasco laughed aloud. “The Sorcerer Supreme. A challenge, but not an insurmountable one.”

Illyana peered up at him through her bangs. “You won’t get it.”

“Oh, I will. It may take time,” he allowed, “but I’ve waited this long, a little longer won’t make any difference. The result will be the same, and if the humans think they experienced Hell on Earth during N’astirh’s little preview, then they’ll be even more surprised when the reality of the Elder Gods return is upon them. His smile widened, but was somehow even more cold than it had been before. “I’m quite sure we can find ways to spend the time. After all, my dear, we have a score to settle, don’t we? You’ve been a very, very naughty girl.”

The bonds at her wrists and ankles began burning again, and for a while, Belasco’s laughter was drowned out by Illyana’s screams.

 

  
**An hour or so later, at an uncharted island somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle**

“That one.”

Kitty’s head turned and she eyed Vance with a curious look. “What?”

  
“That one.” Vance pointed towards an island off to the left of the Fantasticar. “I don’t know how I know, but...I know. That’s where we need to go.” Wincing, he rubbed at his forehead. The dull, nagging ache he’d been trying to ignore for the past hour had gotten worse - much worse, accompanied by a burning sensation that kept making him want to check to make sure his wrists and ankles weren’t actually on fire.

“Are you okay?” Doug asked as Kitty began their descent. At some point during their flight, he’d turned off the image inducer, but the fact that his eyes were now gold and metallic didn’t hide his concern.

Vance nodded. “Yeah. I just - I think there’s something happening. With Illyana.”

“You’re telepathic, too?” Kitty landed the car in a clearing, then turned towards him, her expression skeptical. “I thought you were telekinetic.”

“I am. And no, I’m not. Telepathic, I mean.” Vance took a breath, then climbed out of the car a little shakily. Maybe he was overreacting? Kitty seemed pretty skeptical, and she probably knew more about the paranormal than he did. “I’m not sure what’s going on,” he hedged. “Maybe it’s just a headache; I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

Doug got out of the car, then came over and looked at Vance, concerned. “Try something, will you? Take it off for a minute.”

Vance blinked at him, confused, then nodded and reached up to his shirt collar.

“Take what off?” Kitty asked.

“This.” He pulled the amulet’s chain over his head, and let out a sigh of relief as his headache all but disappeared, taking with it the other symptoms. Meeting Doug’s eyes, he nodded. “Yeah. Better. Though the seeker-sense is gone, too.” On a positive note, that suggested that his feeling about where they needed to go had likely been correct, and not just imagination or wishful thinking. On a negative note, it meant whatever he’d been feeling was likely real, too.

“Is that Illyana’s amulet?” Kitty reached out to take it, her forehead furrowing. “Where did you find it?”

“She gave it to me.”

“Yana gave you her amulet.”

Vance looked at Kitty, trying to figure out just why she sounded so skeptical. “Umm...yes?”

“She just handed it over.”

“More like she stuffed it into my hand,” Vance said defensively. “Look, is this a problem?”

Kitty opened her mouth, but before she could speak Doug dove in. “Kitty, he spent six months with her in Limbo. It’s not like in all that time he never found out what it means.”

Vance watched with some apprehension as a myriad of emotions played over Kitty’s features - surprise, guilt, something that almost seemed like jealousy. Finally, though, she took a deep breath and exhaled. “Right. I just...she never lets anyone touch that. Not even me.”

“I guess she figured she really didn’t have any choice,” Vance quietly observed. He met Kitty’s eyes. “I know all about the bloodstones, Kitty. I know what they mean. And believe me, I would never do anything that would hurt her. But right now? I’m pretty sure someone else is. So maybe we can table this for now?” He offered a trace of a smile he hoped would lessen at least a little of the tension and held it out to her. “Besides, I’m guessing you’re going to need it at this point.”

“Me? But…” Kitty’s forehead furrowed as she accepted the medallion and slipped its chain over her head. “I don’t know what I’m-” her voice broke off abruptly and the color drained from her face.

“Are you okay?” Doug asked, grabbing her elbow to offer support.

Kitty, obviously shaken, looked at first him, then Vance. “You’re right. We don’t have time for this. I’m not sure what she did to the medallion, but...I can feel her.” She took a breath, obviously trying to center herself, then exhaled and nodded as she came to some kind of conclusion. “There was a dimensional hole here, once. Inside the temple. Belasco told us that it would mend itself, better than new, but where the fabric was frayed once…well, theoretically? There could still be tears nearby. I think that’s why the sensation’s grown stronger. We just need to follow it.”

She turned and headed into the woods, with Doug shooting a puzzled “what can you do?” sort of look over his shoulder at Vance as he went with her, his hand on her back.

Vance remained where he was for a moment, thinking. His gut told him he’d done the right thing giving Kitty the medallion, but…

Shaking his head and brushing away any “buts”, he hurried after the other two. The next step was in Kitty’s hands anyway.

He and Doug followed Kitty through the underbrush for what felt like an eternity, swatting away foliage that seemed to encroach ever closer as they trudged along with no destination in sight. Finally, though, the overgrowth gave way suddenly to a huge clearing, one which sported greenish-stone buildings that looked like nothing he’d ever seen before.

“Magneto raised the island from the ocean’s floor,” Kitty explained, unprompted, her jaw setting as she started towards one of the buildings. “The jungle’s all new - I have no idea how it could have grown up so quickly - but this is definitely the place.”

“Magic?” Doug guessed facetiously, then backed up, throwing his arms up for protection as Kitty flipped towards him, scowling.

“Don’t joke about that. This is where Belasco pulled Yana into Limbo the first time. The X-Men, too. Magic’s an all too real possibility.”

“You said Professor Lenscherr’d raised the island?” Vance interjected, hoping to forestall an argument. “Did he create the buildings and statues?”

Kitty fixed Doug with one last look then turned to look at Vance, shaking her head. “No, they were already there. No one’s sure what race created them, though; he told me once that he thought they might be Atlantean, but he really wasn’t sure. He was just looking for a ready-made base of operations. He used it for a while, and then the X-Men did.” She paused for a moment, her forehead wrinkling in concentration, then gestured for them to follow her into one of the temples. “This isn’t the one where the portal was before, but it’s where the medallion is leading me.”

“There’s some kind of weird energy signature.” Doug was frowning as he looked around, his eyes morphing into something not unlike binoculars. “I can’t place it. It’s similar to the one I kept seeing when the demons invaded New York, but...not?”

“Is it Illyana’s?” Vance asked hopefully. Inside, the temple seemed even more imposing and forbidding than it had from without, with eerie, vaguely glowing statues featuring what looked like tentacle monsters straight out of Lovecraftian movies. By comparison, Limbo sounded like an almost welcome prospect.

Doug shook his head. “Maybe? It’s similar, but not identical. Almost like the afterimages of one of her stepping disks.” He shrugged and turned towards Vance with an apologetic shrug. “I could be wrong, though. I didn’t really figure out how to see energy signatures until recently, and so much was going on during the invasion that I really didn’t pay much attention. It looks similar to what I remember, though.”

“Where?”

“Over here,” Kitty answered before Doug could. She took a few slow steps forward, then paused, wincing. “I can feel her stronger, here. Vance, did you want to try?”

“Yeah.” Vance stepped over to join her, accepting the medallion once she’d slipped it over her head. He put it on, and gasped.

Pain. Burning pain, far, far stronger than before, but more than that. He felt as if he were being pulled apart, his very bones warped into something unrecognizable. Shaken, he opened his eyes, not even realizing he’d closed them, and met Kitty’s, a silent understanding passing between them. She’d felt the same thing, but there wasn’t time, now, to worry about what it meant. They’d find out soon enough. “Do you know what to do?”

“I think so. No, keep it,” she objected as he started to pull the chain over his head to return it to her. “She gave it to you, and I can only figure she had a good reason.”

“Won’t you need it to zero in on her?” It seemed reasonable - after all, they’d followed the amulet this far, but Kitty shook her head.

“No. I can feel her now, without it.”

Vance watched as Kitty held out her hand, and slowly, a shimmering sword began to materialize in her grasp. “We’re so close now, it resonates,” she explained with a shrug. “Besides, we don’t know what kind of welcoming committee will be on the other side. I might as well have it handy.”

“Makes sense. What do you need us to do?”

“Come take my left hand,” Kitty instructed. She jerked her chin towards Doug and grinned, obviously feigning more confidence than she felt. “Wrap your arm around me, will you? And hang on tight. I have absolutely no idea how this is going to work, but I’d rather not lose anyone between dimensions.”

“Wow, way to inspire confidence, Pryde.” Doug’s grin looked a little shaky, but he came and wrapped his arm around Kitty’s waist nonetheless, even as Vance tucked the amulet inside his shirt and took her hand as instructed. “So we go in, guns blazing? Because I’m pretty sure I left mine in my other coat.”

“I can put up a TK shield around us,” Vance offered, ignoring his roommate’s feeble attempt at a joke. “That should keep everyone in one place, at least.”

Kitty frowned, considering, then nodded. “Try it. If I can’t phase with it there, we’ll know soon enough.

Nodding, Vance focused, and a pink-ish sphere formed around them. “I’m going to have to concentrate to keep it there, though,” he warned. Not easy, given the sensations flooding through him from the amulet and knowing that it was likely only a fraction of what Illyana was feeling, herself, but it seemed like the least he could do.

Nodding acknowledgement, Kitty closed her own eyes. A moment later, Vance felt a tugging sensation, as if all of the molecules in his body were being pulled through the narrow end of a funnel. Biting at his lip, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping his shield intact, though given the wet sensation on his upper lip, his nose had started bleeding as it did whenever he pushed his powers to their limit.

He hoped it stopped before they got to Limbo. Bleeding there was never a good idea.

“Almost…” he heard Kitty whisper.

There was a wrenching as his molecules slammed back into what passed for their original positions, and a gasp from his companion. Her hand dropped from his, and Vance glanced over to see that Doug’s arm seemed to be keeping her upright.

He spared them only a glance, though, before his eyes flashed back to the figure before him.

It was Illyana and yet it wasn’t. Gone were the red skin, the forked tongue, and the hooves that he’d gradually become accustomed to as she’d become increasingly demonic, reflecting N’astirh’s ideal of Limbo. In a way, she looked more like herself than she had in months. Until you noticed the details; the cruel, sardonic twist to her lips, the spiraled horns curling up from her forehead. The bikini-like mix of black leather and silver chain she wore, that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, that revealed a body more developed than that of the teenage Illyana who’d paraded around in her underwear in shared hotel rooms. The tail, that lashed back and forth behind her with irritation. The empty gold eyes, that stared right past him, fixing on Kitty. Or rather, on the sword the brunette still clutched in her hand.

“That’s mine.” Illyana scowled and held out her hand. “Give it back.” Her hand rebounded off his TK shield and she scowled, and instead began pacing impatiently in front of it as if looking for some kind of opening.

“Yana? Don’t you recognize me?” Kitty replied, her forehead furrowing as she straightened up, shrugging off Doug’s arm and tightening her grip on the hilt of the sword until her knuckles turned white.

“Don’t bother talking to her,” another voice said from the shadows, and as Vance turned towards it, he saw a red-skinned, one armed man with horns step forward, a cold, smug grin on his face. “My little apprentice has finally become everything she should be, and ceased her feeble attempts at rebellion. She may have forgotten a few things in the process,” he shrugged, “but that’s all to the good.”

“Belasco.” Vance’s jaw set as he recognized him from Illyana’s descriptions, and he swiped away the blood dripping from his nose as he redoubled the strength of his shield. “What’ve you done to her?”

The sorceror ignored him and instead turned to look at Kitty. “My dear Shadowcat. You’ve returned to me as well. And brought friends.” For the first time, his gaze flicked away from Kitty to regard first Doug, and then Vance himself. “Not X-Men, these. Don’t you think introductions are in order?”

“I think you need to undo whatever it is you’ve done to Illyana,” Kitty spat back.

“I don’t think you’re really in any position to make demands, do you? Though I might consider it. If, of course, you give me something in return.”

“What could you want from us?” Doug asked. His optics were spinning as he attempted to take in everything in the area, but he turned his head to look directly at Belasco.

“Nothing you need. Just return the Beatrix Amulet that my apprentice stole from me.” A cold smile flickered across his face as he focused his attention back on Kitty. “After that, I’ll let you leave.”

Kitty scowled. “Like you let the original X-Men who came here leave? Besides, even if we had the amulet with us, we know better than to give it to you.”

Belasco stepped forward, though he stayed well back from the dome that Illyana continued to circle. “Please don’t insult both of our intelligences by pretending, Cat. Of course you brought the amulet with you. Do you think I can’t sense it? Oh, stop circling like a vulture.” The last was directed at Illyana, who whimpered and took a step backwards, casting nervous glances towards the sorceror.

“She has my sword.” It was half complaint, half entreaty, as if Illyana was begging for the permission to do something about it.

“So? Take it back from her.” Belasco waved his hand with apparent negligence, and Vance found himself flying backwards, then smashing against a set of stone stairs. Only then did he realize where they were - the infamous throne room, where so many alternate reality X-Men had met their ends.

Having heard what befell those X-Men before they died, Vance had a feeling that dying quickly might be the best hope they had.

“You okay?” Doug whispered. Vance glanced over at him, causing his head to spin ominously, and saw that his friend had crawled over, closing the distance between them.

“Yeah.” Fighting a groan, Vance pushed himself up to sitting. The girl who both was and wasn’t Illyana had produced a sword from somewhere, and she and Kitty were circling each other, with occasional stabs he was almost positive were just intended to test the other’s reactions. “You?”

“Yeah. Question, though - can you blast him?”

Vance turned to look at Belasco, who was watching Illyana and Kitty as if their entire fight was playing out for his amusement. Quite probably, it was. “I could kill him,” he observed, both as realization and as advisement.

And if he did, would that be so wrong? Part of him desperately wanted him to. This was the man who’d made Illyana’s life, quite literally, a living hell. Who’d taken everything she could have been and twisted it. Her current appearance and psyche were only the latest examples. He’d tortured her, just as he’d tortured the X-Men who’d been so unfortunate as to be stuck here. He’d do the same to them, without a second thought.

He was, in other words, just like his father. Just with more power.

On the other hand, did he have the right to serve as judge, jury, and executioner? They might not be at home - hell, they weren’t even on Earth - but some things were just wrong. And no matter how you looked at it, two wrongs didn’t make a right. Not even here.

Doug was watching him closely, as if recognizing that he was trying to sort things through. “You don’t have to kill him,” he whispered, jerking his chin towards the wall behind Belasco. “A stepping disk is going to form there, soon. If you hit him square in the chest, you’ll knock him right through it.”

“Are you sure?” Vance spared a glance towards the girls, who were now fighting in earnest, swords whirling in a series of blows and parries that were too fast to follow. It looked, to him, as if Kitty was holding her own, but how long could she last, after having transported them here? And even if she did win, what were they going to do with Illyana? Belasco had remade her body and mind in his image, just as he’d done with her soul...

The bloodstones. The thought popped into Vances mind suddenly, and he cursed himself for never having thought of it before. Belasco’s control over Yana was based on the bloodstones in the amulet. And her sword could dispell spells…

“I”m sure. I can see the energy building.” Doug took an unnecessary breath and exhaled. “Okay, on my mark.”

“Hang on!” Vance tugged the amulet over his head.

“Vance, it’s coming now,” Doug protested.

“Just one second. Kitty!” he yelled. And with the feeble hope that he was doing the right thing (and damn, if he wasn’t, would this kill her? If it did, it would be his fault) he tossed the amulet to her, guiding it with his TK so it landed at her feet. “Stab it!”

Without waiting to see whether she did or not, Vance turned back towards Belasco and levelled a blast of pink energy that hit the sorcerer square in the chest, just as a stepping disk opened behind him. He fell through, cursing-

Just as a shrill scream rang out, echoing through the chamber.

Without knowing how he’d gotten there (he suspected Doug had helped, but honestly couldn’t say) Vance found himself on his feet and running towards the blonde haired girl lying crumpled on the ground. Kitty was kneeling beside her, stroking her hair, and Vance dropped down on her other side.

“Is she okay?” he whispered, fearing the answer even as he asked the question. She was unconscious, that much was obvious - but physically, she looked like herself. Which was...honestly, Vance had no idea whether or not that was good, or what it meant.

“I don’t know. She just sort of dropped when I stabbed the amulet. She’s been changing steadily ever since.”

Vance pried his eyes away from the fallen girl to glance at the smoking amulet, which had fallen open. All of the points of the pentagram were empty. Of the soulsword, there was no sign, but he didn’t know whether that meant Kitty had sheathed it, it had somehow returned to Illyana, or it had ceased to exist entirely. He glanced up at Kitty, who had tears streaming down her face, then turned back to Illyana.

Who stirred, moaning softly, and opened her eyes a crack.

“V..vance?” she asked hoarsely as she looked up at him. And smiled, just a little, wrenching his heartstrings in a way he wasn’t prepared to think about too closely, just then. “‘Bout time you got here.”

“I got your message.” He offered a crookedly and reached to squeeze her hand. “Sorry it took so long, but we had to arrange transportation.” Reluctantly, he gestured with his chin to her other side. “You might want to say hi.”

Illyana’s forehead furrowed, and she turned her head to see where he was looking. Her eyes widening in surprise, she whispered, “Kitty?”

“Who else? Did you honestly think these dorks could get here on their own?” Kitty swiped a hand over her eyes and smiled, then took Illyana’s free hand and gave it a tug. “C’mere, roomie. I think I owe you a hug or ten.”

“More than a dozen. And ice cream. Lots of it, while you explain why you’re not dead.” Illyana sat up slowly, and Vance moved to support her back when it became obvious that she was wobbly, at best. “Hey, Dougie.”

Vance turned his head to see Doug crouched down near Illyana’s feet, smiling. “Hey yourself. After you’re done with that ice cream? I want my Panic! At the Disco shirt back.”

“You’ve got it.” Illyana frowned and turned to look back at Vance. “Belasco?”

“Gone for now,” he assured her, uncertain as to whether or not that was the answer she wanted or needed to hear. “How’re you feeling?”

“Empty.” Illyana looked confused, then tilted her head and eyed him curiously. “What did you do?”

“He didn’t. I did,” Kitty inserted before Vance could decide how to explain. “I used your sword to kill the Beatrix amulet.”

“You did what?” Illyana pulled herself upright, staring at Kitty incredulously. “Belasco said that no power on Earth could destroy it.”

“Well, we’re not exactly on Earth, are we? We’re in Limbo. And when Vance threw it to me, it seemed really dumb that we’d never thought of it before, considering that your sword dispels magic.”

Illyana stared a moment longer, then shook her head and buried her face in her hands. Taken aback, Vance tightened his arms around her, and began stroking her hair as she began crying silently, her body shaking with emotion.

“What’s wrong, Yana?” he whispered into her hair.

“It’s gone. All of it. All the magic, and I wanted…I wanted...” she dissolved into tears.

Vance peered up at the other two, confused. Unfortunately, they seemed just as puzzled as he felt. Given how frequently Illyana’d insisted she wanted to be free of Belasco and Limbo, he’d thought she’d be happy to know that it was done. Apparently, he hadn’t known what he was talking about.

“Illyana?” Doug interjected softly. “I hate to interrupt, but can you call a disk and take us home? I don’t think any of us is up to another round with Belasco if he comes back.”

Sniffling, Illyana nodded, and Vance watched as a stepping disk formed around them. A moment later, they were back in Illyana’s room at the mansion, and Vance sighed as Illyana resumed sobbing.

He was going to have to call Johnny and explain how they’d left the Fantasticar on an island in Bermuda, he realized. But it was going to have to wait a while. For whatever reason, Illyana needed him, now.

  
**Epilogue**

“...so Storm decided the best thing we could do was to let everyone believe the X-Men were dead. That it would allow us to respond to things anonymously, and decrease the rising tensions between humans and mutants.”

“That’s stupid.” Illyana slurped some more ice cream off her spoon, then waved it at Kitty, who was sitting with Doug on the opposite bed, to illustrate her point. “And anyway, it still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me.”

Vance sighed and looked over at Doug, who was eyeing the ice cream longingly. At least, he reflected, the girls had stopped screaming at each other - for a while, he’d been worried they were going to hear them in the other wing of the mansion, which was something no one wanted to deal with just now. Hence the reason Illyana’d been forced to wait a few hours to get her ice cream; no one had wanted to chance running into anyone while raiding the kitchen, so they’d waited until everyone had gone to bed.

Besides, it had given her a chance to stop crying. And to change out of her fantasy movie-inspired bikini, though privately, he felt guilty that he wished she hadn’t forgotten to do that for a while longer. He had to admit that the oversized t-shirt (one of Doug’s, he was nearly positive) and leggings were undoubtedly more comfortable, though.

“Yeah, well - you sent a six year old alternate you back to the mansion to pretend she was you!”

“I did not! I rescued her from Limbo, just like she was supposed to have been rescued, and used her as a messenger. Not my fault the New Mutants latched onto the idea that it was me.”

Doug pulled his eyes away from the ice cream and gave both girls an indignant look. “Hey, Vance and I didn’t.”

“Yeah, well, you’re smarter than the average X-Baby.”

“I’ve always maintained that.” Doug flashed a grin, then sobered as he looked around the room. “Anyway, you guys can hash out who was dumber later. We need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

“We could go back to Australia,” Kitty suggested tentatively. “The X-Men would be okay with it.”

“I’m not ready to see my brother,” Illyana objected. Scowling, she stabbed her spoon into her ice cream. “I actually saw him during the invasion. He let me believe he was a ghost.”

Vance reflected that, whether Illyana’s soul had been purged of Belasco’s evil or no, it hadn’t much changed her personality. Which surprised him a little, but was fine, so far as he was concerned. He liked her the way she was.

“Stay here with the New Mutants?” Vance offered.

It was Kitty’s turn to wrinkle her nose. “I’d really rather not. Even ignoring the two million questions they’d ask, none of them are exactly fond of me.”

“Yeah well, they’re not fond of me either, and that never stopped me from staying.” Illyana made a face and swirled her spoon through the her rapidly melting pint of Rocky Road. “I’m not big on the idea though, either. Everyone’s going to be weird, and I have enough to figure out as it is without them asking me dozens of questions about it. Can’t we just road trip again?”

“Umm...I’m not sure I have enough cash for a road trip, to be honest,” Doug admitted. “Plus there’s the whole thing where if my image inducer gets damaged, people are going to be shouting ‘Alien!’”

“Well, figure out how to hold human form, then. Warlock could do it.”

“It’s not that easy. And honestly, how long did he ever hold it for?”

“That doesn’t mean he couldn’t, just that he got distracted. Anyway, we could-”

“What about Muir?” Kitty interrupted. “I mean, it’d mean telling Moira what was going on, but she’d probably be okay with us staying there until we figured out what to do.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Vance observed slowly. He’d met Dr. MacTaggert at the memorial that had been held for the X-Men, and had liked her despite her brusque exterior. “She could check out Yana, too-”

“I’m fine,” Illyana insisted. “I don’t need checking out.”

“Yana, you spent six months in Limbo, got transformed repeatedly, and spent an hour of the last two sobbing.” Kitty gave her a sympathetic look. “I think a checkup’s in order.”

“I said I’m fine!” Illyana slammed her ice cream down onto the nightstand. “I’m just frustrated, okay? I spent five years of my life studying magic. I had my own dimension, and it’s all gone. All of it was for nothing.”

“You hated Limbo,” Doug observed, metallic eyebrows rising.

“Well, yeah. But it was still mine.”

Vance reached over and rested a hand on Illyana’s back, tracing slow circles as he thought it over. Illyana was feeling lost, he got that much. She’d fought for power, and had lost it, and whatever benefits had come along with it. Maybe she needed a new direction? “If it’s the magic you want, what about talking to Doctor Strange? Maybe he’d want an apprentice?”

Illyana looked surprised, then shook her head and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think he likes me much. And he’d take one look at me and know I had something to do with the demon pouring down from the sky last week.”

“How about Amanda Sefton, then?”

All eyes turned towards Kitty, and she shrugged. “Well, she’s a practicing witch, right? And she’s mutant friendly - obviously, I mean, she dated Kurt for years, on top of being his sister - don’t ask,” she inserted, causing Vance to close his mouth abruptly. “But anyway, she’d probably be willing to help you get started, at least. And Moira might know how to get in touch with her.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Illyana mused.

“So, there’s one big question left.” Doug grinned and held up his hands in a “what can you do?” gesture. “We left the bike in New York, the Fantasticar in Bermuda, and Illyana doesn’t want to teleport through Limbo - which I totally understand,” he interjected before she could protest. “How the hell do we get to Muir Island?”

Illyana and Kitty laughed, while Vance winced at the reminder that he needed to call Johnny and tell him about the car. Procrastinating wasn’t making it any easier.

“There’s always an Avengers Quinjet?” Yana suggested. She set her spoon in her empty container and snuggled in against Vance, curling her legs up beside her. “I mean, seeing as we’re stealing transportation from superheroes.”

“We didn’t steal the Fantasticar, we borrowed it,” Vance corrected as he slipped his arm around her back, but it soon became obvious that he was fighting a losing battle.

“X-Factor’s ship?” Doug offered.

“Too big,” Kitty protested. “The thing’s probably the same size as Muir Island - we’d have to land it on top of Moira’s facility.”

“Batman’s Batmobile?”

“How would we take a car to Scotland? Besides, fictional.”

“Well, Wonder Woman’s invisible jet, then.”

“Also fictional. Though I always wondered how she flew that if the controls were invisible, too.” Kitty paused for a moment, then grinned. “Y’know, unlike you losers? I have my pilot’s license. And there’s a perfectly good Blackbird right down in the hangar.”

“We can’t steal the Blackbird,” Vance protested.

“Who said anything about stealing? It’s the X-Men’s ship, and I’m an X-Man.” Kitty’s grin turned smug. “It’s practically decreed that I should take it, rather than leave it in the care of a bunch of X-Babies. We can leave Mags a note.”

“I’ll start packing,” Illyana said, and shifted as if preparing to bounce to her feet. Vance tugged her back down again.

“Maybe in the morning? I don’t know about any of you, but it’s been a long day, after an even longer last couple of days, and I’m wiped. I vote we crash here for the night and leave in the morning.”

Illyana turned to look up at him, about to protest, then apparently thought better of it. Cocking her head, she smiled impishly. “Mmmmm. I’ve gotta admit, a full night with no one having to stand watch doesn’t sound bad.”

Vance felt his face warm, but his lips quirked up in response, anyway. While that hadn’t been what he’d had in mind, he had to admit, it didn’t sound bad at all.

“And on that note, I vote that we go borrow the empty room across the hall,” Doug suggested as he got to his feet and gave Kitty a pointed look. “C’mon, Pryde. Here’s your penance for playing dead - you get to spend all night looking over the notes I made on the progress of the virus.”

“Slavedriver. We should really have Moira look you over, too - it’s a virus, she might have some ideas. But fine, we’ll go check it out.” Kitty got to her feet, then glanced over at Illyana and Vance and grinned. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, you too.”

Vance gave her a thumbs up without looking. The rest of him was rather busy returning Illyana’s kiss, and considering that she’d climbed half into his lap, he wasn’t about to interrupt. Apparently there wasn’t all that much to talk about, after all.


End file.
